PAN AFRICA!

It is mid-morning and time to explore the immediate surroundings here in the Cantonments, an upscale community and the place that I call “home”.  I call Ashley, a Peace Corps Volunteer who I hooked up with recently. 

A few minutes later we are walking the short distance to the Du Bois Memorial Center for Pan African Culture.  I’m anxious to see the center as I remember only a few things about him from classes in college.

The Center is just behind the United States Embassy.  The Embassy is a huge imposing compound with fences and guards and large signs that say, “No Photography”.  I pass by the embassy 3-4 times a week and I’m tempted to take a picture each time.  I don’t.  I play by the rules.  But I know there are ways around rules.  I found this one on the internet. I think I beat the system.

We walk through a large gate and a man who appears to have some authority approaches us.  Neither of us are sure if we are in the right place or if we should have just walked into the compound without permission.  Ghana is a very formal society.  Ashley greets him in his native language, Twi.  

A couple of minutes later he points to the home of W.E.B. Du Bois.  It’s good to have Ashley at moments like this because unless they want to here me say "my name is Karen" or "hello" or "good-bye" in broken Twi I’m lost.  My students laugh when they see me using my Twi App.  People on the street ignore me when I pass and say "ete sen" (hello).

We walk into what was formerly his Parlor and now the official greeting area.  There is a counter with many postcards that can be purchased, none of which seem to have anything to do with the Du Bois Cultural Center; just general things about Ghana – pictures of food and TroTros. There are things on the walls for purchase.  One is a large picture of Malcolm X.  Miss Bea, the woman behind the counter takes our fee for the “mandatory” tour.  She will be our guide.

We move into what was Du Bois former living room to begin our tour.  Miss Bee explains that “Pan” in Pan Africa is an English word meaning “all”.  Really?  She explains that Pan Africa was coined by Du Bois.  Ok, I know that Pan is not an English word (I later look it up and it is Greek).  I’m pretty sure he didn’t coin the term Pan Africa.  I know where this is going and I politely listen as she tells her story, inflating his education to two earned PhDs, explaining that there are no cultural issues bringing Pan Africa into reality, and forgetting details such as his creation of the NAACP.  I remember where I am and just being in the house and looking at the things on display is interesting.

After looking at Pictures of he and his second wife as well as important leaders in Ghana, I notice that there is a wall of women who served as leaders in the struggle. 

Among the Freedom Fighters are pictures are freed slave Sojourner Truth, famous for her eloquent extemporaneous speech “Ain’t I a Woman?” and Shirley Chisholm, activist and the first African American women elected to congress as well as running for President of the United States.

As we move through the hallways we see very small pictures above the doorways of Martin Luther King and Barack Obama, a small but honorable mention. I find later in my research that Du Bois died one day before Martin Luther King's "I have a Dream" Speech and the March on Washington.

We approach the door into his personal library.  This is the place where he began his vision creating the “Encyclopedia Africana”, a project that drew him to Ghana and a project that was never completed.

The final room was his bedroom, now fitted with display cabinets showcasing his full Regalia, both from Harvard University where he earned a PhD and also from numerous honorary degrees received from various universities; one being the University of Ghana.  Of particular interest for me was the full Ghanaian Regalia with Kente Cloth. 

In a display case is a copy of the 25^th Anniversary Edition of The Crisis and pictured on the front cover is the dazzled smile of Rosa Parks. DuBois was the Editor of this magazine, an official publication of the NAACP.

There are things omitted from this center and I wonder why.  For instance, why isn’t the contrasting opinions of W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington mentioned?  The room alludes to his affiliation with the communist party and his political leaning, but there is no overt statement.  There is no statement that he joined the U.S. Communist Party shortly before he left for Ghana and became a Ghanaian citizen.  I’m not sure why although I can speculate.

There is a crystal bowl, a gift from Czechoslovak Government and there is a gift from China hanging on the wall.

The final stop was just outside his home.  It is W.E.B. Du Bois Tomb. 

Poor Ashley could stand it no longer when Miss Bee spoke about the beautiful Ghanaian carved stools surrounding the walls inside the tomb.  Miss Bee asserted that anyone was allowed to sit on them.  Ashley suggested that Miss Bee ought to think about it, that these stools were made for important people. Oh my, Ashley; pick your battles carefully. 

It was time for pizza on the patio.